Day: March 13, 2013

There is still time to attend the Conference on Corporate Interference with Science and Health which goes today – Wednesday, March 13th – until 5 p.m. and starts again tomorrow, Thursday, March 14th beginning at 9 a.m. in midtown. A friend of mine is there and says it is fantastic. Lots of great information. The speakers’ list was quite impressive. And it’s free.

Will they address the issue of Wi-Fi in parks? Well, they are addressing Wi-Fi in general so I’d imagine so.

What role do corporations play in the information you have to answer these questions?

The conference organizers write:

The topic of wireless health hazards will be new to some New Yorkers- but the issue of cell towers on apartment buildings, wi-fi in schools and wireless devices on public transport and what they are doing to YOUR health begs an immediate national conversation. The world’s experts will be speaking at this FREE conference in NYC.

Wi-Fi signals could be responsible for health problems in trees, leading to bark tears, prematurely dead leaves and bleeding, according to a study by Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

The study into the effects of radiomagnetic radiation on plantlife came about after officials in the Dutch city of Alphen aan den Rijn saw abnormalities in trees that couldn’t be explained by any virus or bacterial strain 5 years ago, according to a PC World article on the research.

Researchers exposed 20 ash trees to various radiation sources for a period of three months. Trees placed closest to Wi-Fi networks produced a “lead-like shine” on their leaves that was caused by the decay of the outer-cell layers of the leaves, PC World reported. Eventually, the leaves died.

The study also found that Wi-Fi could stunt the growth of corn cobs, the magazine reported online.

Wageningen University said on its website that the findings were only initial results and that more research needs to be done to confirm the study and determine long-term effects.

The university also said it would like to conduct its tests on a larger number of plants.

The trees used in the study were exposed for more than three months to six sources of radiation with frequencies ranging from 2412 to 2472 megahertz, the university said online.

The study also found that trees throughout the Western world had similarly unexplained problems such as bark tears and premature leaf death, according to PC World.

About 70% of all trees in the Netherlands’ urban areas show the same symptoms, compared with only 10% five years ago, the study found.

Other than electromagnetic fields generated by cellular networks and Wi-Fi networks, microscopic particles from automobile emissions that can pass through tree bark could also be responsible for urban health problems in trees, according to PC World.

Trees in densely forested areas rarely had the same problems as their urban counterparts, PC world reported.

Think of the corporate interests that are petrified we will all start thinking about this seriously.

At the Union Square Partnership, the executive director boasts of Wi-Fi in Union Square but is it a good thing? Of course, once in awhile I might think it would be nice to have Wi-Fi in Washington Square, but I don’t think it’s worth the risks.

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For my Activist Friends

Realize that little things lead to bigger things ... And there's a wonderful parable in the New Testament: The sower scatters seeds. Some seeds fall in the pathway and get stamped on, and they don't grow. Some fall on the rocks, and they don't grow. But some seeds fall on fallow ground, and they grow and multiply a thousandfold. Who knows where some good little thing that you've done may bring results years later that you never dreamed of.
~ Pete Seeger